Ninewa to makeup for festival canceled by Peshmerga

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: Ninewa governor, Atheel al-Nujaifi, on Saturday promised to hold an international sport festival instead of the one that was canceled yesterday (May 08, 2009), as Peshmerga (Kurdish local guards) prevented participants from reaching the festival’s location. Peshmerga forces formed a checkpoint in Baasheqa, and prevented the governor himself, in addition to Arab and foreign delegations, from attending yesterday’s evening festival that was canceled due to this issue by the Iraqi youth minister Jassim Mohammed Jaafar. “Ninewa governor promised to hold a distinguished sport festival sponsored by the province,” a media source from the Ninewa local authority told IraqiNews.com news agency. “These kind of activities (sports) are prominent and should be encouraged,” the source said quoting the governor. “The Syrian and Lebanese delegations were surprised by the behavior of the unofficial gunmen,” the source explained. “Sports have nothing to do with politics,” he proceeded. “The two delegations stressed that they are ready to attend any sport activity in Mosul and Iraq in any time,” the source pointed out. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. MH (S)/SR 1